Scott Zamvil is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Faculty Member in the Program in Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford and his neurology residency training at Harvard's Longwood Program. He was a Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Dr. Zamvil specializes in basic and translational neuroimmunology research, focusing on MHC class II-restricted antigen presentation and T cell regulation in the multiple sclerosis (MS) model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). His laboratory has been generating transgenic models to study the individual roles of monocytes/ macrophages, dendritic cells and B cells in EAE pathogenesis. Based upon his research on the role of statins in immune modulation (Youssef, S., et al. Nature 420:78 (2002)), he is leading an NIH-sponsored placebo-controlled multicenter trial testing atorvastatin in early multiple sclerosis. Recently, his laboratory demonstrated that anti-inflammatory "type II" monocytes can adoptively transfer protection in the EAE model, reversing paralysis and inducing Th2 and Treg cells in recipient mice, while inhibiting Th17 and Th1 responses (Weber, M.S., et al. 2007. Nat Med 13:935-943). A current focus is to identify the pathway(s) responsible for type II monocyte differentiation and to characterize molecules expressed by these APC that are responsible for induction of regulatory T cells in vivo.